Surf’s up — paddling and princely — in Hawaiian haven of Santa Cruz

Today, the Covewater Paddle Surf Shop will celebrate its grand opening at 706 Water St. from noon to 2 p.m. with Hawaiian music by Timmy “Kukia” Hunt and Uncle Stan and pupus from the town’s Aloha Island Grille.

Yesterday, a special ceremony at Lighthouse Point honored the three princes of Hawai’i who introduced surfing to Santa Cruz — and by extension, to the rest of the country — in 1885, when they rode redwood surfboards at the mouth of the San Lorenzo River.

Geoffrey Dunn

This new plaque at Lighthouse Point in Santa Cruz honors the Hawaiian princes who introduced surfing to the Mainland.

Princess Kapi’olani Kawānanakoa, granddaughter of Prince David Kawānanakoa, donated the plaque in memory of her grandfather and his brothers, princes Jonah Kūhiō Kalaniana’ole and Edward Keli’iahonui, who were teenage students at a school in San Mateo when they made their historic ride. She was among the hundreds in attendance yesterday, many in aloha wear, according to the Santa Cruz Sentinel, along with Honolulu artist Kristin Zambucka and local historian Geoffrey Dunn, who coordinated the effort. Hula’s Island Grill and Tiki Room, Santa Cruz’s other popular island-themed restaurant, provided pupus — it’s not a Hawaiian event without food, right?

As part of his documentation of the princes’ surfing, Dunn cited a contemporary newspaper account from the Santa Cruz Surf that reads, “The young Hawaiian princes were in the water, enjoying it hugely and giving interesting exhibitions of surf-board swimming as practiced in their native islands.”

It’s not known if they demonstrated any hula, which would have pleased their uncle, King David Kalākaua, in whose honor the Merrie Monarch Festival, which wraps up tonight in Hilo, is held every year. But that Hawaiian tradition has also been adopted in Santa Cruz:

Ka Lei Wehi O Ka Mailelauloa, also known as the Hula School of Santa Cruz, was founded in 1998 by Hilo native Leolani Lowry. The troupe’s Web site notes it’s “an ‘ohana style hālau where everyone is welcome.”

While the same can’t always be said of Santa Cruz’s surf breaks — to be fair, they’re a lot more crowded than in the princes’ day — surely they would be gratified to see just how much aloha spirit there is in Surf City.